THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 36-year-old man and his five-year-old son, who were travelling on a two-wheeler, died in a road accident at Thampuranmukku near Kazhakoottam on Tuesday. Thrissur native Rajesh, his son Rithwik and wife Suchitha were heading to a friend’s house in Nagaroor near Kilimanoor when the accident occurred.
Their two-wheeler rammed the rear end of a KSRTC bus leading to the death of Rajesh and Ritwik. Suchitha sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at the Medical College Hospital. The two-wheeler rammed the bus from behind when its driver applied the brake suddenly. The bus of the Venjaramoodu depot and was returning from East Fort.
Thumba Station House Officer R Siva Kumar said Rajesh, from Pazhayi, was living with his family at Mudavoorpara near Balaramapuram and worked as a sales executive in an aluminium fabrication company.
Of late, the NH66 bypass has been witnessing frequent accidents and deaths. On Monday, a middle-aged pedestrian was fatally hit by a car while he was crossing the road at Muttathara. City Police Commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay said he has asked the traffic department to study the reasons for road accidents in the bypass and check if there were any accident black spots in the stretch. He said accidents mostly occur due to human errors and there were not many infrastructure-related issues in it.
It’s high time the state took measures to ensure the safety of the vulnerable road users- the pedestrians and the two-wheeler riders, said road safety expert Sony Thomas. These two groups account for about 74% of accident casualties, he added. Sony said the government should implement the ‘safe system approach’ to bring down the road accidents and deaths. The face system approach comprises measures and practices from road designing to construction to cut down accidents and related deaths.
“It can bring down casualties by 30-40%. The safety of pedestrians and two-wheeler riders can be improved,” he said. “The roads in the states should be rated on the basis of safety factor. We do not have road safety ratings. If we do, even our best roads will fall below 3-star,” Sony said.